Chapter I: General

_Geographical Features_

The Island of Cyprus is situated in the innermost basin of the Mediterranean Sea; about 40 miles distant from the Asia Minor coast on the north, and about 60 miles from Syria on the east, and 238 miles from Port Said to the south. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, ranking next to Sicily and Sardinia. The larger part of the Island is in the form of an irregular parallelogram, 100 miles long and from 30 to 60 miles broad; while on the north the eastern extremity runs out beyond this into a peninsula 40 miles long by 5 to 6 miles broad. The total area is 3,584 sq. miles. The main topographical features are the northern and southern mountain ranges running east and west and enclosing the great plain of the Messaoria. The mountains of the northern range are of an altitude ranging from 2,000 ft. to over 3,000 ft., the highest point being Buffavento, 3,135 ft.; those of the southern range are more lofty and culminate in Mt. Olympus, 6,406 ft. above sea-level. The rivers are nearly all mountain torrents, and are dry from about July to November or December.

The area of cultivated land is approximately 1,200,000 acres, and that of the uncultivated land 1,093,760 acres, of which about 450,000 are forest land and 320,000 are susceptible of cultivation. The Messaoria plain is the great corn-growing area.

_Climate and Rainfall_

There are considerable extremes of temperature in the plains. In summer it is very hot and dry with temperature ranging during June to September from 80 deg. to 110 deg. Fahr., while in winter slight frosts not infrequently occur. The climate is more equable, but also more humid, along the coasts. In the plains there is, during the greater part of the year, a marked variation between the day and night temperatures.

Official records show that for a period of thirty-two years up to 1915 the average rainfall for hill and plain for the whole Island approximated to 20 inches. Up to 1902 records were kept only in the six district towns, but since then there have been some fifty recording stations. The mean rainfall during the winter months for the twelve years ended 1914 was 18.55 inches. That for the whole year during the latter period was 21.18 inches.

The incidence of rainfall, apart from its volume, is of importance. It is on the rainfall of the six winter months, October to March, that the prosperity of the Island depends, and any shortage during this period cannot be balanced by heavier summer rains, which are more liable to cause harm than good, by damaging the corn lying on the threshing-floors and by causing sudden floods.

Much importance attaches to the rains in March, without which the grain crop, however ample the earlier rains may have been, will not be satisfactory, as described in a maxim which I have attempted to render in English.

If twice in March it chance to rain,
In April once, a shower in May,
In weight in gold of man and wain,
The farmer's crops are sure to pay.
If roads are dry at Christmas time,
But Epiphany finds both mud and slime,
And at Carnival they still hold many a pool,
The farmer finds his barns quite full.

_Administration_

The Island is administered by a High Commissioner. There is an Executive Council and a Legislative Council consisting of six official members and twelve elected members, of whom three are elected by the Moslem and nine by the non-Moslem inhabitants. The Island is divided into six districts, in each of which the Executive Government is represented by a Commissioner.

_Weights, Measures and Currency_

Nearly everything except corn, wine, oil, carobs, cotton and wool is sold by the oke.

An oke, dry measure, equals 400 drams, or 2-4/5 lb.

The liquid oke is reckoned as equivalent to a quart.

Grain is measured by the kile, regarded as equal to a bushel.

Wool, cotton and oil are sold by the litre of 2-4/5 okes, but commonly reckoned as 2-1/2 okes.

Carobs are sold by the Aleppo cantar of 180 okes. This cantar is further divided into 100 litres of 1 oke and 320 drams each.

Wine is sold by the kartos = 4 okes, the kouza = 8 okes, and the gomari = 128 okes.

1 kile of wheat weighs 20 to 22 okes.

1 kile of barley weighs 14 to 18 okes.

1 kile of oats weighs 13 to 14 okes.

1 kile of vetches weighs 23 to 24 okes.

1 sack of straw weighs about 40 okes.

1 camel-load of straw weighs about 200 okes, consisting of 2 sacks, each weighing about 100 okes.

_Measures of Length_

Metron or metre.

Yarda or yard.

Pic = 2 ft. or two-thirds of a yard.

Inch = English measure.

The land measure is the donum (called by the villagers "scala"), but it is very uncertain, and varies in different parts of the Island. As recognised by law, 1 donum, called "tappoo donum," equals 60 pics = 40 yards square = 1,600 square yards, or 14,400 sq. ft.; 3.025 of these donums go to the acre. There is also a farmer's, or "reshper" donum, which is commonly used by agriculturists and is equal to about 1-1/2 Government donums. For general purposes a legal donum is about one-third and a Cypriot farmer's donum about one-half of an acre. "Stremma" is also a synonym for the farmer's donum, or scala, although its actual measure is very much less.

_Currency_

L1 = 20 shillings or 180 copper piastres.

1 shilling = 9 copper piastres.

1 cp. (copper piastre) = 40 paras.